UC Santa Barbara to lead the way in AI-powered cybersecurity

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The National Science Foundation recently awarded UC Santa Barbara a $20 million grant to research artificial intelligence powered cyber security.

Giovanni Vigna, a computer science professor at UCSB, will lead the newly formed Agent-based Cyber Threat Intelligence and Operation (ACTION) Institute with UC Santa Barbara colleagues Chris Kruegel, João Hespanha, and Amuj Singh on the executive committee.

“The ACTION Institute will help us better assess the opportunities and risks of rapidly evolving AI technology and its impact to DHS missions,” said Dimitri Kusnezov, Under Secretary for Science and Technology at the Department of Homeland Security in a university press release.

Vigna explains that AI could help cybersecurity systems at government agencies and hospitals from cyberattacks.

"The problem is that the attacks happened at a pace and at a sophistication that right now we are not able to really handle them at the scale and speed that we need," says Vigna. "So we need artificial intelligence to help us in protecting this with the speed and the scale that we require."

Vigna likens the current approach to cyber security to the defense used in soccer, in which a goalkeeper must oversee the strategies and tactics of the opposite team and decide where to concentrate. Vigna says that with AI-powered tools, it would be like having multiple goalkeepers.

"Imagine having these kind of robots, but they're not robots because they're programed, going around the network, collecting information, talking to each other, talking to humans so they can keep their eyes on all the angles of a network that needs to be protected."

Justine Cure, the Information Technology Director at the City of Santa Barbara, says at this time, it is hard to say what stage AI is in.

"The AI industry currently has no ethical nor legal restraint," said Cure. "We trust and value our human intelligence within the City, our partners, and our technology solutions to provide our cyber security protection."

Cure adds that the city is constantly reviewing new technology solutions to strengthen its cyber security posture.

Vigna says artificial intelligence security is used everyday in firewalls and intrusion systems, but the institute's research in these autonomous agents could be used very soon.

"We will have these autonomous components, collecting information, talking to each other, and it will be as common as your Alexa in your house to whom you talk all the time."

Vigna says he understands the trepidation some people may have towards AI and how much information it can process.

"AI is a program. We know how it operates, and we know what it does and we use it as a tool to help our every day operation."

The ACTION Institute is comprised of 11 academic institutions around the country and will collaborate with a variety of cyber security industry partners, such as Google and Intel, to gain insights into the challenges associated with deploying AI-powered cyber security solutions in real-world settings.

In addition to developing the next generation of cyber security, the ACTION Institute will implement programs to engage K-12 students as well as undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students.

Vigna hopes that in 5 to 10 years, the institute's research will develop a way for humans to interact with these autonomous agents the same way humans interact with other humans.

"We can provide them with direction about what we want to happen in a way that is more natural and that will be more effective."

Research at UC Santa Barbara for the ACTION Institute will begin on June 1st.